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Does professional citizenship resonate with you?

Lizzie O'Brien

So, you think you’re a professional? And most of us do. Think we’re professionals. We get to work on time, roll up our sleeves, coach colleagues, advise the business, fight fires; balancing the needs of workers and organisations at the same time. And we go home. To our friends and loved ones, to the gym, to the pub, to the cinema.

But if we’re professionals, do our responsibilities start and end with our day job? Do we have a duty to use our unique skills to help others? How can we go beyond our roles while balancing our work, family and other busy life commitments? These ideas sit at the heart of professional citizenship, which is described by the University of Minnesota as 'an identity: seeing oneself first as a citizen with special expertise working alongside other citizens with their own special expertise in order to solve community problems that require everyone’s effort.’

So, what do you think? How can we be better professional citizens? And should we be? Does the concept resonate with you? Please share your thoughts - the good, the bad and the ugly!

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  • That's an interesting concept and reminds me of a very strange date i went on a few years back. After some initial pleasant conversation, the chap tried to tell me that as a HR Professional, I had a duty to spend all of my time outside of work trying to make the world a better place. I disagreed - my private time is for me to do things that i enjoy and whilst i always try to help people a nd do good because of my nature, it was certainly not my 'duty; to do that, just because i happened to be working in HR

    He then got very animated and cotninued to rant that i was being irresponsible and HR people like me, needed to realised that we were responsible for 'ridding the world of evil'. Unsurprisingly i disagreed, and at that point i ended the evening. Strangely he asked to see me again and was surprised when i declined.

    So my thoughts are very strongly that we absolutely have no duty to be better professional citizens outside of work. I do however believe that everyone - young or old, professional or not, has a responsibility to treat the world and the living beings on it with care and respect.
  • in reply to Teresa
    I have to admit I agree with Teresa, I feel no requirement or need to continue what I do in work into my personal life and if I am entirely honest my personal opinions are often very different to those I put forward at work.

    I do think there is a wider social responsibility to be kind and do the right thing but I feel no need to crusade or feel any pressure to be a perfect example of.
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  • in reply to Teresa
    I have to admit I agree with Teresa, I feel no requirement or need to continue what I do in work into my personal life and if I am entirely honest my personal opinions are often very different to those I put forward at work.

    I do think there is a wider social responsibility to be kind and do the right thing but I feel no need to crusade or feel any pressure to be a perfect example of.
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